One of the main drivers of story is the principle of CONTRAST.

A character in a traditional story arc begins one way and ends up in a very different state of being - the underdog to the victorious hero, or the innocent, unaware victim to the final survivor, or the selfish ...

There's nothing more frustrating when a character dies from a situation that had no reason occuring except perhaps that the writers wanted to be edgy and make the story have more gravitas with a random death that's forced into the plot.

I've talked often over the years ...

Last Week we looked at the “Break Into 2”, the transition between the beginning of a story: The “Before” picture of the Protagonist and their world, and the “Upside Down World” of Act 2.

So, a little later in your average story will come the “Break Into 3”. This leaves ...

There's dark things going on, bad things are resurfacing as restless blood-soaked ghostly visions disturb the present and threaten to drag people back to trauma's past… Just what happened back then? And will it break those in the present? The art is all digital, very well drawn, stylised ...

The road to Hell that is paved with good intentions feels like Heaven, which is why the road to Heaven feels like Hell. Uehara, prisoner of the Tengu Clan, has had the same recurring dream from a long forgotten past. Zato Garuda, Uehara’s former sensei, delivers an in-person message ...

It’s that time of year again. It’s become a bit of an annual tradition. I started setting goals for myself a few years ago. And whilst I have not hit all of them, I have achieved more than I feel I would have had I not set any ...

Photo: “1600”. Used Books created by Usedbooks. (December 2024)

Usedbooks writes:

“Hi,

I have a milestone announcement for the newspost. Used Books has reached 1600 pages.

(From the author’s notes)

‘1600’

Is 1600 a milestone? Tbh, every page feels like a mile at this point. Heh. Anyway, I used ...

It's been a very tough week (as per usual these past few weeks) and I've been sitting here staring at the blank screen of my computer trying to think of a topic to write about for the newspost.

And I got nothing. I keep drawing blanks. I have ...

How do you make a clever character stupid?

You give them an infatuation. A fixation. Something that completely overrides their critical thinking and better judgment. Something that drives them nuts like a switch is thrown.

And when that happens, they're dumber than a bag of rocks. (And they're ...

Photo: “-Spring- Ch.3: Page 80”. Imago, Nebraska, created by InkyMoondrop. (November 2024)

InkyMoondrop writes:

“He-hey! It's that time again. Chapter 3 of Imago, Nebraska ends on the 27th (Wednesday). I hope it was to your liking, Ch.4 will focus more on Theo once again, with a few ...